


Fine Lines

by FunkyinFishnet



Series: Calls Of The Wild [3]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Angst, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mates, Mating, Mating Bond, Pack, Pack Family, Recovery, Wolf Pack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-09
Updated: 2014-09-09
Packaged: 2018-02-16 18:43:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2280615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FunkyinFishnet/pseuds/FunkyinFishnet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Born werewolves Jenson and Sebastian were always meant to be mates, though before they meet they're both quite happy with their lives. Then Mark and Sebastian's pack gets decimated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fine Lines

**Author's Note:**

> My love belongs to sarcasticmissy's, for her terrific beta skills when I need them most :) This is a prequel to the other two fics in this verse.

 

 

Jenson couldn’t remember the first time that he met Mark. He had to have been pretty young though, he’d probably already met Lewis and Nico by that point. He did remember being on holiday with his parents close to the Red Bull pack’s territory, he probably met Mark then. Mark had been born into that pack, hadn’t he? Not a direct heir but someone who was very much expected to be important.

 

 

It was an older Mark that Jenson spent most of his time with, a man with stubble and wry expressions and a wiry strength that just emanated from him without any need for posturing. Of course other Alphas in the pack still sometimes challenged him but mostly he came out on top. He never treated Jenson like a challenge though, Jenson who was a packmaster’s son and a strong Alpha. Instead he bought Jenson his first beer and took him surfing. He smiled a lot, Jenson had always liked that about Mark.

 

 

The first time that Sebastian met Mark, he was still a teenager. His parents had been from a very small pack and had made sure that he grew up knowing his value. He was a Beta and he could achieve great things, he could wield a lot of influence, he could become a packmaster’s mate. The older he got, the more Sebastian saw the wisdom of their words. His parents taught him how to control himself as Alphas fought over him. By the time he was seventeen, Sebastian had decided that he wanted to further his architectural studies outside of his pack's territory and that he didn't want to mate with any of his pack’s Alphas so his parents got in touch with the Red Bull pack and were thrilled when the Red Bull pack agreed to foster him. Packs were always glad to welcome Betas.

 

 

Sebastian didn't really miss his parents, he'd expected to be fostered at some point and so was quite used to the idea. Fostering Weres was common, ensuring that the gene pool was diversified and that Weres didn't feel particularly penned in and therefore aggressive. Sebastian liked the Red Bull pack, he liked that they allowed him, a Beta, to continue his studies while living on their territory and he liked how Christian ran things. Mark was one of several Alphas that Sebastian met soon after joining the pack, important Alphas who would one day probably run the pack. Most of the Alphas looked at Sebastian greedily, ready for the chase. Mark just nodded and didn't make any move on him. Sebastian had been raised to expect Alphas’ attentions and so was pretty offended by Mark’s reaction. After that first meeting, they rarely spent any time together. Why would they? There were much more interesting Alphas for Sebastian to get to know.

 

 

*

 

 

Like most Weres, Jenson learned about the possibility of finding his intended mate. He watched Lewis with Nicole and teased Lewis about how smitten he was. Lewis laughed, shoving him away and calling him jealous. Hardly. Jenson had boyfriends and girlfriends, Weres and humans, his parents didn’t mind if he crossed those lines. They’d told him pretty early on that he should be considerate and respectful to whoever he spent time with, to remember that people were often looking for different things and that unless he vocalised what he wanted, problems could arise. Jenson tried to never lead anybody on but there were a couple of incidents, two or three people thought that he could be persuaded to mate with them for life even though he’d made it clear that he wasn’t interested in that kind of commitment at the moment. Mostly he just enjoyed himself.

 

 

Sebastian wasn’t particularly tied to the idea of finding his mate. It was statistically unlikely to happen, with all the Weres and humans in the world so how coincidental would it be for him to meet his? He dated a little, spent time with the Alphas of the Red Bull pack, discerning whether any of them would suit him long-term. He wanted to be with a strong impressive Alpha, someone who was powerful but who didn't run Sebastian over. Sebastian had already had to tell a couple of Alphas a very firm ‘no’, an answer they’d had trouble accepting. His parents weren’t bound by a mating bond, neither of them had ever found their mates, but they loved each other. It was a strong marriage and they were obviously good for one another. Sebastian knew what he wanted in a mate and whether that was a human or Were, his intended mate or otherwise, he wasn't going to settle for second-best.

 

 

*

 

 

When Jenson heard that something truly devastating and horrifying had happened to the Red Bull pack, he told his parents and his packmaster that he had to go see what had happened to Mark. He’d gotten to know Mark pretty well since their younger days; they often hung out together at whichever bar took their fancy in the neutral territory between their packs’ lands. Occasionally Kimi, an Alpha from another pack, hung out with them too, drinking an unbelievable amount of alcohol and dealing with how Jenson mocked him for his lack of expressiveness by simply raising an eyebrow a tiny increment and drinking some more. Jenson liked Kimi. He’d seen the Alpha wolf take down a man who'd laid a hand on a very distressed-smelling Beta. Kimi hadn't expected anything in return for that rescue. He was unique, but he was good people.

 

 

As he raced to find out what had happened to Mark, Jenson ran into Kimi, both of them baring their teeth in anger and fear as neither of them knew what they would find. They ran in Were form and howled as soon as they reached Red Bull land, announcing their arrival. They didn’t wait for permission to enter.

 

 

Afterwards, it was the memory of the smell that stayed with Jenson. He didn’t know which horrific part – the corpses, the blood, Mark’s feral state – made the biggest impression on Kimi. He and Kimi never talked about it.

 

 

Mark refused to talk to anyone; his stare understandably vacant. He’d been living alone off his pack’s land, land that a secretly-vicious neighbouring pack had tried to steal. The authorities had begun investigating when a visibly-dazed and bloodied Mark had been spotted near the territory's border. The guilty neighbouring pack was punished, but Mark was the one who really suffered, left bereft and wild. His entire pack had been decimated. He had survived but it must have felt like the worst possible punishment.

 

 

Jenson and Kimi stayed with Mark, wrapping their arms unquestioningly around him, knowing that they couldn't bring his pack back. Kimi made the executive decision to take Mark to the Ferrari pack that Kimi had been part of for years. It was a good idea; if Mark went Omega then he almost certainly wouldn't come back from his grief. The Council signed off on the idea and Jenson went with Mark and Kimi.

 

 

Sebastian heard a roar. Even when thinking about it later he couldn’t distinguish it as a howl of any sort. He shifted as soon as everybody else did, bloody fights breaking out almost instantly. He wanted to help, to fight as well, to know why their neighbours were doing this. But then Christian was there beside him and brusquely ordered him to find somewhere to hide. There was no way that Sebastian could disobey the Alpha packmaster growl in Christian’s voice so he ran, past the bodies of his friends, past Alphas and Betas, past flames licking at buildings in a way that made his stomach clench and turn.

 

 

He hid and he hid and he didn’t move. He didn’t have a phone on him, he couldn’t call his parents. At least they were safe with the pack he’d grown up in. He hid and he stayed quiet and he rubbed ashes all over his body, over his fur, and he lost track of his own shape. The ashes smothered his scent. Nobody found him, nobody was looking. His breathing was wrong and his dreams were worse. He couldn’t even howl out his grief.

 

 

*

 

 

Mark was a mess and there wasn’t much that Jenson could do to help him. He kept his pack informed, his packmaster telling him that he was doing good work, while Kimi was Mark’s silent shadow. Stefano, the Ferrari packmaster, welcomed them all and only frowned when he noticed that one of his pack’s most prized Betas was spending a lot of time with Mark. Jenson smiled slightly because Mark was actually reacting to Fernando, he sat a little closer to the Beta each day.

 

 

After several weeks of running with Fernando’s pack, Jenson decided that he was going to stay for as long as Mark needed him. Mark and Fernando were very obviously destined to be mates. Fernando had confirmed that he could feel the connection and had claimed that he didn’t care if Mark remained the way he was, fluctuating between distant and feral, he was going to bond with the Alpha anyway. Jenson liked Fernando. He could see how good for Mark the Beta was, his push-and-pull attitude coupled with an already touching devotion to his Alpha which seemed to surprise Fernando’s packmates a little. According to a few of the Alphas, Fernando was something of a high-maintenance Beta and so far had refused every Alpha wanting to mate with him.

 

 

Mark began talking again and he even managed to spend several days in a row in human form. He slept beside Fernando now, wrapped around the Beta like he was clutching a lifeline. Kimi and Jenson slept on the other side of Mark, making sure that he was surrounded by comforting scents. Mark still had horrific nightmares which he refused to talk about and he always tended to look restless but he managed to get some peaceful sleep too. That was progress and Jenson was fully prepared to point that out if the top of the Ferrari pack’s hierarchy tried to stop Mark and Fernando's mating plans.

 

 

“Glad you’re here,” Mark told him one day out of the blue.

 

 

Jenson smiled and knocked shoulders with Mark, it was the most that Mark had said to him since the Red Bull pack’s decimation. Progress. And it helped ease the pain around Jenson’s heart too.

 

 

Jenson's pack wasn’t pleased about him wanting to stay with another pack indefinitely but Jenson couldn’t imagine leaving Mark until his friend was a lot more solid. Having Jenson and Kimi around was helping Mark and Jenson couldn't take that away from him. The three of them, four including Fernando, were a little pack within a pack. His parents weren’t exactly happy about it but they were also curiously understanding. A bit of a mystery that.

 

 

Then Mark declared one day, after talking to Stefano and a few other high-ranking Alphas who all no doubt wanted him to bond with someone else please, not Fernando, that he wanted to visit his pack’s territory. The Council said he was permitted to since technically it was his land but Jenson still exchanged a meaningful look with Kimi. Was this going to send Mark back into his more feral depths? That had been no fun for anyone the first time around. But Mark’s eyes were clear and he was determined and Fernando stood beside him daring anyone to object. Kimi and Jenson volunteered to go with them and swore that Fernando would be brought back to his pack afterwards, not carried off. It was pretty shitty how much Fernando's pack didn’t actually trust Mark, or maybe they didn’t trust any Alpha around their beloved Betas. That was at least understandable.

 

 

They were at the border of Mark’s old territory when the Were suddenly went stock-still for a moment, then he shifted and ran. Fernando swore and the three of them followed suit. They found Mark amongst a patch of trees, hunkered down beside a young naked figure who seemed be smeared with mud and ashes, a figure with dark-blonde hair and pale skin showing through, a figure who smelled of despair and loneliness and when he turned to look at Jenson…

 

 

Sebastian turned his head sharply. He could smell something different. He’d spent the last few weeks hiding from the Council members who'd been investigating Red Bull's territory, Christian had told him to hide, Christian who was, who had to be…

 

 

Anyway, if the neighbouring pack could hide what they really wanted, so could the Council. So Sebastian hid and only moved when he needed to find something to eat. Not everything had been destroyed. And now there was something new in the air, a very familiar smell, but everyone was dead, everyone. Sebastian had heard the screaming and had smelled the blood. Whenever he slept, he saw it all. But there was a wolf running towards him and then a nose was pressing against his neck, scenting and ensuring. Sebastian blinked dazedly down at the wolf. Mark, it was Mark, and he was alive and smelled like Sebastian did under the ashes. Something that felt very much like resentment burned through Sebastian. There were other people too though, other wolves, and Sebastian turned, still unconvinced that he wasn’t dreaming again because his pack was dead, he knew that…

 

 

Jenson looked at his mate and his heart broke for the guy, a Beta trying to deal with devastating grief alone. Fuck. He carefully nuzzled in against Sebastian’s back, fur against skin, a crooning noise escaping.

 

 

Sebastian looked at his mate and felt something snap inside his chest. This Were was his Alpha. God, Sebastian had never expected it to feel anything like this. He’d never expected this, his mate, at all. Mark pressed in on one side and Sebastian’s mate did the same on the other. Sebastian sighed. If this was a dream, it was a very good one. He reached back to tangle a hand in the Alpha’s fur and as he did, he could feel some aches beginning to melt away. He would take as much of this as he could.

 

 

*

 

 

Jenson gazed at his mate. Slowly he shifted back to human form and watched as the young man curled back into him with a sigh. Jenson stroked his cheek and glanced at Mark, the other Alpha shifting back as well. He looked at the Beta first, then Jenson.

 

 

“Sebastian.”

 

 

That explained a few things. Jenson remembered Mark complaining about a young Beta that his pack had fostered. According to Mark, Sebastian had been smug and irritating, expecting every Alpha to pursue him. Whenever Mark had complained, Jenson had usually mocked him for being grumpier than an old Omega. Now though, he watched as Mark carefully disentangled himself from Sebastian, stroking the Beta’s flank once before sliding away. Fernando was waiting for him, waiting to soothe away Mark’s pain. Jenson could do that for his Beta, his mate.

 

 

Sebastian woke when the world had darkened slightly and there was a man, an Alpha, wrapped around him. He started and turned and found himself face to face with a boyishly-handsome Were, a soft genuine smile on his face. His hands were stroking Sebastian’s skin; he was giving Sebastian tactile support, the sort of loving touches that every Beta craved. This was Sebastian’s mate, he wasn’t a dream.

 

 

He was strong though, Sebastian could sense that. He could see how comfortable the man was in his own skin, he remembered how equally at ease the man had been as a wolf. A packmaster maybe? Then there was…Mark, who was close by. Mark had survived. There was that resentment again, resentment that didn't die down. It was only Mark and Sebastian now, only…

 

 

Only it wasn’t just them, Mark had someone with him, another Beta? And another wolf was watching from nearby, a very beautiful quiet wolf, an Alpha with pale fur and impressive stillness. Sebastian wasn’t alone.

 

 

He sagged back against his mate and without making any sound at all, passed out again.

 

 

*

 

 

A lot was decided while Sebastian rested. Kimi went back to his pack to tell them what had happened. Mark spent some time with Fernando before coming back to sit beside Sebastian, Fernando glued to his side. Mark looked as though he’d seen a ghost. He touched Sebastian’s knee, then his neck, and nodded slightly.

 

 

“He’s yours.”

 

 

Jenson nodded back. “If he’ll have me.”

 

 

Mark made a noise almost like a laugh, though it was too raw for that. He didn’t say any more. Fernando, in human form by now as well, murmured in Spanish which Mark apparently understood, and then curled up under Mark’s chin. Mark automatically focused on his mate, the tense lines of his face relaxing a little. Fernando really was the right Beta for Mark and Jenson was very pleased to see it.

 

 

As Mark kept watch over his Beta and over his pack, Jenson made plans. His family weren’t going to be happy.

 

 

When Sebastian opened his eyes again, his mate was still there, wrapped firmly around him, stroking his neck gently. It felt wonderful. There was a space opening up inside of Sebastian and he could feel the connection with his mate. It was overwhelming, but it wasn’t stifling. For now he ignored the pull he felt towards Mark, towards all that was left of his pack, because when he thought about Mark, he felt a tangle of resentment and something else that tasted bad. Why was it Mark who'd been spared?

 

 

Why had the two of them survived?

 

 

Sebastian glanced briefly over at Mark, he smelled of similar things and his eyes were like furnaces. The Beta wrapped around him was beautiful and clearly unimpressed by Sebastian. The way that the Beta and Mark clung to each other said a lot. Mark had actually found a Beta that he'd deemed worth his time. A miracle, but a poor exchange for their entire pack.

 

 

Sebastian pressed his face against his Alpha's chest and felt the man chuckle, a warm rumble against Sebastian's skin. Then the Alpha cupped Sebastian's chin and directed his gaze upward. He was handsome and firm and wasn't cowed by Mark. He was a strong Alpha. Sebastian smiled and deliberately bared his neck. The man's gaze darkened and his free hand stroked the bare stretch of Sebastian's throat possessively. Sebastian crooned and the Alpha chuckled again.

 

 

“And I'd heard you were difficult.”

 

 

Sebastian frowned but the Alpha smoothed away the taut lines and continued talking. “Difficult can mean a lot of interesting things and I can work with that. I'm Jenson.”

 

 

“Sebastian.”

 

 

Jenson nodded as though he already knew that and then leaned in to kiss Sebastian. The Beta pressed into the kiss, their bodies so much closer, the skin-on-skin contact settling pain that Sebastian had been carrying for weeks now, pain that he was sure wouldn't ever entirely leave him. Did Mark carry similar pain? Sebastian wasn't going to think about that.

 

 

He wanted to be closer to Jenson, he wanted the hurt to leave him so that he could focus. Jenson pressed back, taking Sebastian's weight easily and pulling Sebastian into his lap, owning the embrace in a way that felt proprietorial but caring too and _right_. Sebastian bit the Alpha's lip and smiled at the growl and nip he got in return. Good, this was going to be very good.

 

 

How had he ended up with an Alpha like Jenson, an Alpha that he hadn't been able to find in one of the biggest and most impressive packs in America? Why now? Why had he and Mark found their mates when none of their pack was left to celebrate with them?

 

 

Sebastian whimpered and Jenson gentled the kiss, his hands stroking soothingly down his Beta's back. They stayed locked together for hours, neither moving, neither needing to.

 

 

*

 

 

Eventually, as the day darkened dramatically, Kimi returned with clothes for all of them. He nodded in greeting when Jenson introduced Sebastian and kept watch as everyone got dressed. Sebastian wore some of Jenson's clothes without complaint, the scent-marking an important step. Mark and Fernando began discussing things with Kimi – something about new territory and finding a place for them all to live. Was Mark planning on stealing Fernando? Wait, did he want to make this official, and actually create and register his own pack? That was....unexpected. Still, from what Jenson could hear, Mark had the permission of the Council and Kimi was on-board since Mark wouldn't insist on him staying put with them for days on end. Kimi regularly liked to leave his pack's territory for some wandering alone but he always returned. Some packmasters didn't like that though, Mark wasn't that kind of packmaster.

 

 

It was a lot to take in and Mark caught Jenson's eye without a hint of apology. He hadn't let Jenson in on his plans. It explained why Fernando's pack was so pissed off at the idea of Mark mating with Fernando. They must have had some idea of what Mark had been thinking. Mark himself looked more settled in his skin as he talked to Kimi and Fernando, his head tilt towards Jenson telling the Alpha that he was welcome to join them if he wanted. Jenson guessed that Sebastian would probably want to be close to Mark, though neither of them looked completely comfortable with each other, in fact they both smelled and acted wary and tense. Jenson tweaked the collar of Sebastian's shirt and nodded for the Beta to follow him.

 

 

A little way off, where Mark could still see them, Jenson turned to his Beta. “You want to come back with us?”

 

 

It had to be a question because this was Sebastian's home, despite the fact that almost everyone he'd come to know and love had bled out there. Sebastian nodded slowly.

 

 

“I want to go with you.”

 

 

He was being firm, he met Jenson's eyes and he seemed so resolute. He wasn't a shy Beta, was he? But the longer Jenson looked at him, the more clearly he could see the cracks and fissures in Sebastian's expression and body language. He was going to need as much healing as Mark, they had survived and that was going to take a while to accept. Still, Jenson liked the Were that he saw before him, he liked the way Sebastian carried himself, his curiosity and questions, the way he wasn't obviously cowed. He was strong but he wasn't trying not to be a Beta, he was following Jenson's lead.

 

 

“It'll be Mark's pack,” Jenson reminded him quietly.

 

 

Sebastian gazed at him unblinkingly, he didn't protest but his expression did tighten. Yes, this was going to be a long road, but Jenson didn't want to step off it. He'd met his mate, Mark had met his. Mark clearly needed space and people around him that he trusted, liked, and felt solid with. And what were the odds that he'd find the sole surviving pack member when the Council hadn't? Mark must have known what sort of scent to look for, maybe it'd been there the whole time and only he'd noticed it because he knew what it meant.

 

 

Mark and Sebastian had never gotten along but they were all that was left of the Red Bull pack, that was more important now. They both had to know that. Jenson couldn't see them ever being close exactly but he couldn't see them living apart now either. It was going to be strange and difficult and he needed to be there for both of them. And for himself as well.

 

 

Yeah, Jenson's pack, his family, they weren't going to be happy about this. But it felt...it didn't feel good exactly, not entirely, but it felt _right_ , like something important had clicked into place. It was going to be a slog but Jenson knew that he wanted to do. He held a hand out to Sebastian.

 

 

Sebastian placed his hand in Jenson's and allowed the Alpha to pull him close. Jenson first smoothed a hand along Sebastian's neck and then bent to press his mouth to it too. His actions caused a kind of bone-deep pleasure that Sebastian had never felt before. He almost went limp in Jenson's arms, then he held on tight. He wanted more, he wanted pleasure rather than the yawning ache of pain.

 

 

He wanted Jenson. To be part of the genesis of a pack, that was powerful and meaningful. That was strong. They could make sure that this pack didn't get destroyed. Sebastian could continue his studies, he could call his parents and tell them the news. They might worry, they might ask him to live with them again. But neither of them had ever met their mates. Perhaps their packmaster could explain why Sebastian wanted to stay, why he needed to. His parents would understand.

 

 

Jenson lightly kissed Sebastian's neck, his words warm and wet in Sebastian's ear. “I'd like to do it now, finish the bond.”

 

 

He wanted Sebastian's thoughts. It was a good idea, nobody would dare separate them if they mated. The others could verify that Sebastian wasn't coerced or taken advantage of, he could tell the Council what they wanted to know about what he'd experienced during the decimation. He could do that with Jenson beside him. They could do so much together.

 

 

Sebastian's grip on Jenson tightened. He closed his eyes and nodded. His breathing felt close to right and at least for now he wasn't dreaming. He didn't wipe away the ashes that still coated his skin.

 

 

_-the end_


End file.
